Around mid-August of last year, I received an email from a young woman named Ella.

“I stumbled on your Skinny Girls and Mayo site and saw that you recently catered a fundraiser at The 1909 in Topanga,” she said. “It just so happens we are getting married at The 1909 next May, and I would love to talk to you.”

A heart-shaped tri tip for Tanner & Ella

She and her fiancé, Tanner, were having no luck finding a caterer they liked — they wanted something sophisticated and “foodie,” yet casual and relaxed. But all the leads they were getting in their price range were disappointing buffets. More

Last year around this time, I was asked to cook at the silent auction fundraiser for my kids’ elementary school. The event, a 1970s-themed soiree at a local venue, the 1909, was a huge success and the food — including pizzas and huge paleolithic ribeye steaks emerging from a wood-fired oven — was the star.

So when it came around time for the 2015 fundraiser — with an 80s theme — I was again asked. Again, I accepted.

Don Schneider as Hef, plating cod and cous cous

The party would take place this year at Froggy’s, a local restaurant that had been shuttered and put up for sale — which I briefly considered buying before regaining my common sense — and then, upon failing to find a buyer, reopened. More

Caterers have large refrigerators and big stainless steel warming trays and things like that. I’m a chef. I have knives. And I like to see the looks on people’s faces when they taste something good that I have made. It’s hard to do that when you’ve laid out a buffet for 200 people.

The menu

So, I approached the silent auction I was cooking for as if it was just a big dinner I was doing for 200 of my friends. (Which is essentially what it was anyway.) More

They first approached me about cooking for the elementary school’s silent auction a couple years back. This year, they meant it. And being that it was for the good of the kids, I agreed!

Glass candle baubles dangle from the oaks at 1909

I don’t often do large events — when I cook for others, it’s usually private dinners — and the logistics would be a challenge. The event, 200 or so people gathered to eat, drink, bid on things they really didn’t need, would have a 1970s “Topanga Hustle” theme. More

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